Wednesday, October 30, 2013

City Councilman Zack Reed Pushes For Diversity Among Correspondents at CBS' '60 Minutes'

In sort of a strange move last night, City Councilman Zack Reed (Ward 2) urged passage of a resolution that calls for CBS News to hire minority correspondents for its program "60 Minutes." Scene confirmed this morning that Cleveland's Ward 2 does actually have more pressing matters toward which Reed might attend.

Now, the cause here is certainly worthwhile in a broad, *media studies 101* sense. "60 Minutes" isn't known for its diverse lineup of journalists. Ed Bradley died in 2006, and Byron Pitts moved to ABC News earlier this year. Really, even the simplest glance into American newsrooms will show that, goddam, we need a broader range of voices in just about every newsroom in this country. So Reed is on-point in a conversational sense.

ANYWAY - the time spent championing this notion in council chambers last night strains the gamut of relevancy here in Cleveland. The measure passed almost unanimously, however (Cleveland politicians doing hard work!), save for Council President Martin Sweeney's personal issues.

“Zack just irritates me,” Sweeney hilariously told the PD's Leila Atassi. “This was just an opportunity for Zack to talk, and he’d rather talk about these issues than his own issues. I fully support the cause. But the way Zack did it — my no vote was a vote against Zack.”

And Reed knows as much: "He can't stand me."

The Plain Dealer, for its part, endorsed both of these perennialclowns in its latest round of incumbent-hugging.

To sorta wrap things up here, a) What the hell is Cleveland City Council doing? b) Zack Reed has probably drunkenly slogged through segments of "60 Minutes," angrily shouting - perhaps rightfully so, but still drunkenly - at his TV and c) What the hell is Cleveland City Council doing?

I mean, again, things are kinda bleak in many areas of Cleveland. Mount Pleasant, represented by Reed himself, boasts crime rates so damning that the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the neighborhood one of five nationwide $1-million grants to lend some credence to the abysmal law enforcement taking place there. Reed's ward is where events like the Imperial Avenue murders took place and where Jazmine Trotter's body was found earlier this year and where Christina Malone's body was found earlier this year and where Ashley Leszyeski’s body was also found earlier this year. (No one has been convicted of or even charged with the murders of those three women.)

Reed insisted last night that Cleveland City Council has been known to spend its tax-funded time debating the merits of totally irrelevant things. He cited a resolution from 2003 calling on eBay to alter its racist search algorithm. Noble, sure, but its relation to Cleveland politics is an exhausting stretch. Ditto for the "60 Minutes" resolution.

Mr. Reed: Remove head from ass and get to work. For chrissakes, try to at least act like you'll earn your inevitable and unfortunate re-election.